Five CMO staff arrested in AP for theft of digital signatures

 VIJAYAWADA: AP CID have arrested five persons on charges of stealing digital signatures from the office of AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy following a complaint lodged by CMO officials on August 11.

AP CID SP V. Harshavardhan Raju said the accused include Kanamarla Srinu, data entry operator, and Bhukya Chaitanya Nayak of secretary Mutyala Raju’s peshi, Guttula Sitaramaiah, an attender in secretary Dhanunjay Reddy’s peshi, Nalajala Sairam and Abdul Razak of chief secretary Jawahar Reddy’s peshi.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Harshavardhan Raju said all the accused had been contractual employees in CMO’s office. Without the knowledge of their superior officials, they had issued 66 Chief Minister’s Petitions (CMPs) in the last three months, thereby collecting ₹15 lakh. They issued the CMPs using the e-office login username and passwords of the IAS officers they worked for in the CMO.

Harshavardhan Raju said in February this year, a CMP of the Home Department prepared by Kanamrala Srinu, the prime accused, had been found suspicious. Senior IAS officer Dhanunjaya Reddy then cross-checked and found that the irregularity had been committed by Srinu.

After a departmental inquiry, Srinu had been dismissed from the job. However, with the help of other accused persons, Srinu continued to misuse the signatures of senior IAS officers for their monetary gain.

The CID SP said a detailed inquiry is on to find any additional persons involved in the racket. Stern action will be taken against all the guilty, he added.